Maximum Pace

The forecast doesn't seem too cold for Saturday, so we're planning a ride around Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa. This will include a visit to Kasajima Marina where world adventurer Sarah Outen, last month's Pink Cow presenter, is staying and preparing for her solo crossing of the Pacific Ocean.

Your train leaves Keikyu Shinagawa Station at 08:57. Use in the front cars on the train as the back ones go to Zushi. You want a car that's going to Misaki-guchi and thus stops at Keikyu-Kurihama. Arrive Keikyu- Kurihama at 09:51. (If JR Kurihama is more convenient for you, it's a short distance between the two stations.)

It will be chilly, but should be lots of fun. You'll need your bike bag, helmet, lights. Keep my phone number handy 080-3403-0239.

This isn't a beginner ride, but neither is it a race. We'll be riding about 60km with some steep-ish sections (both up and down!) Wonderful scenery, roads through the rice paddies, a lighthouse, wind turbines, and view of Fuji-san if we're lucky. Route will be something like this:

Sarah has offered to let us stay overnight at the marina if we wish. She notes, however, that it's cold at nights and all she has there are a few blankets. If you want to stay, bring a change of clothes and a sleeping bag, etc., with you.

No lunch at Misaki Port this time. Instead we will keep on pedaling to Kasajima for a later lunch with Sarah and her rowing boat Gulliver. Please let me know by Friday morning if you're planning to join the ride as Sarah needs numbers for food shopping.

Maximum Pace

I might even get up early on Sat morning and cycle down to Keikyu-Kurihama and be there in time for everyone unpacking their bikes from the bags (and hopefully will also have had time for a bite to eat and some rest).

Because I rode down from Setagaya via Yokohama to the start (66 km) and rode along the river side up to Yamato City with Jose after viewing Gulliver, it was a very long day for me. My total came to 156 km and I got on the train in Yamato about 12 hours after leaving my house.

On the bike path up the river I had much more energy than I did last Sunday, when I did a 136 km ride and when I felt like I was running on empty. I would have felt even better this time if I didn't stupidly crash my bike half an hour into the return trip. My helmet really saved the day. I ended up with a few scratches in my face and a bleeding nose. Jose and I went to a conbini where I bought band aids and cleaned up my face a bit so I no longer looked like a zombie. The lesson I learnt was that it's not a good idea to try to climb the edge of a sidewalk at a narrow angle at high speed

After this ride I'm definitely interested in a 200 km randonee later in the year. I'll probably do more long rides when we get more daylight hours in the spring.

Maximum Pace

[...]I would have felt even better this time if I didn't stupidly crash my bike half an hour into the return trip. [...] The lesson I learnt was that it's not a good idea to try to climb the edge of a sidewalk at a narrow angle at high speed